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Focus on future of football and football of the future

At its constitutive meeting chaired by FIFA Vice-President and
UEFA President Michel Platini, the FIFA Strategic Committee
discussed a wide range of current topics concerning the future of
football. Working groups were set up to revise the international
match calendar and address the release and insurance of players for
international matches. The Strategic Committee expressed serious
concerns regarding third-party ownership of players and the dangers
of the recent case involving Spanish club Granada 74. The committee
also expressed satisfaction that FIFA would be conducting two
trials with the Laws of the Game at the forthcoming FIFA Club World
Cup in Japan in December.

Representatives from the interest groups in the football family
spent four hours reviewing the findings of the Task Force "For
the Good of the Game" and the decisions passed by the FIFA
Congress and debated the most pressing points in greater detail.
"All of the parties involved in football must come together to
decide on the future of football and on the football of the
future," explained chairman Michel Platini, summarising the
tasks ahead of them. FIFA President Blatter, for his part, linked
the past to the present by mentioning topics which were even more
vital now than they were when FIFA was founded, such as the
universality of the Laws of the Game, the organisation of
international competitions and, by extension, the international
match calendar and player transfers.

The discussions demonstrated how closely related crucial topics
in finance, politics and the organisation of competitions are and
how they can only be satisfactorily resolved with comprehensive
solutions. One key element in the discussions was the 6+5 rule,
which is designed to protect educational programmes and national
teams and would also have important benefits, including reduced
transfer costs and the preservation of clubs' local and
national identities. Blatter called upon the Strategic Committee to
continue to use football to promote education and hope.

It was considered essential to continue developing the
international match calendar. The basic points for future
discussion in a working group - comprising CAF President Issa
Hayatou (Cameroon), FIFA Executive Committee member Ricardo
Teixeira (Brazil), English Premier League Chief Executive Richard
Scudamore, FIFPro President Philippe Piat and FIFA Executive
Committee member Franz Beckenbauer (Germany) - include fixing dates
for the biennial Africa Cup of Nations, dates for back-to-back
international matches on Saturdays and Tuesdays, dates and suitable
venues for friendlies as well as arrangements for the players'
immediate return to their clubs. The avowed intent is to find an
acceptable calendar for all involved, not least for the sake of the
players' wellbeing. Any concessions in drawing up the calendar
will therefore be based on sporting considerations and should not
be influenced by financially powerful confederations.

Player insurance and compensation while on international duty,
matters which are currently covered in different regulations, and
the release of players are directly related to the international
match calendar. A standardization could be achieved following two
principles, namely, clubs could be given compensation from the
prize money awarded to associations at tournaments and, as regards
player insurance, FIFA and other organisers could contribute to the
costs of existing policies and, similar to the fund successfully
tested at the 2006 FIFA World Cup™, compensate clubs whenever
players are forced to drop out as a result of injury. These matters
will also be dealt with as part of a working group comprising FIFA
General Secretary Jérôme Valcke, UEFA General Secretary David
Taylor, Barcelona chairman Joan Laporta and Etoile du Sahel
(Tunisia) chairman Othman Jenayah.

Club ownership and licensing was also discussed in great depth.
The new licensing system will come into force in early 2008 after
the FIFA executive has ratified it later this month. FIFA President
Blatter expressed sheer dismay at the decision passed by the Court
of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne with regard to Spanish
club Granada 74. "I am very disappointed that CAS has ignored
the principle of sporting criteria for qualifying for a division
and opened the doors for the American franchise system to football.
FIFA will take immediate action to stop this loophole by passing
appropriate regulations," he asserted.

As a result of the Tevez case, immediate action was also called
for as regards third-party ownership of players. The FIFA
administration is working on a simple and effective solution as
part of the transfer regulations that will be submitted to the
world governing body's Legal Committee.

The Strategic Committee also noted information about FIFA's
referee development programme and FIFA's intention to conduct
two trials at the Club World Cup in Japan: the first relating to
goal-line technology with a new trial of the adidas and Cairos
chip-in-ball technology, and the second to the use of two
additional assistant referees during matches.

A meeting of experts will deliberate on football-related health
issues, such as playing at high altitude and in other extreme
conditions, on 25-26 October and 1 November. There are also plans
to introduce a health records card for professional footballers to
improve medical monitoring. Furthermore, FIFA is planning to extend
cardiac examinations, such as were undertaken before the 2006 FIFA
World Cup™ and the 2007 Women's World Cup, to all of its other
tournaments.

The next plenary meeting of the Strategic Committee will take
place in March 2008.